Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[CKPR]

8 minutes ago, Hroth said:

There's nothing finer than a sugar butty!

 

Second only to a barmcake with refried potatoes and  "Tiptree" brown sauce (the origins of this are lost in the mists of time and it may well be something of my own invention).

[Caley Jim]

A club I was once a member of had a porridge quarry on their layout.  There were also rumours of haggis (haggii?) on one of the hillsides, but I never saw them.  Perhaps they were the nocturnal species!

 

Jim

[stephensons_wolf]

On 09/09/2021 at 00:05, Jake The Rat said:

 

 

I have both of them & could help out.

well, I'm kind of looking for the 1892 version, would it be possible to send the route? if its ok with you?

[Edwardian]

Underground lakes of Brown Windsor Soup?

 

Tapping the sap of the Toffee Tree?

 

Possibilities and absurdities are endless. 

 

Frankly Pratchett's Schmaltzberg fat mines are hard to beat.

[CKPR]

20 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Underground lakes of Brown Windsor Soup?

Is Brown Windsor soup transported chilled using insulated tanks as per milk, hot,  therefore requiring  tanks with lagging and even heating akin to bitumen, or can it travel in a nice old-fashioned square tank wagon ?  

[Tom Burnham]

A preserved railway if my acquaintance once had a tank wagon lettered for the Frittenden Treacle Mines...

[DonB]

I expected to see someone with a layout featuring a Spaghetti orchard

[Jake The Rat]

11 hours ago, stephensons_wolf said:

well, I'm kind of looking for the 1892 version, would it be possible to send the route? if its ok with you?

 

Sure. I've sent you a PM...

[Annie]

I had a really good day today and for the first time in ages I was able to run the timetable and traffic schedules for the Tenpenny branch for three and a half hours before I had to take a break and have a sleep for a while.  There's nothing particularly arduous or difficult about operating the Tenpenny branch unless you don't like having to do a far bit of shunting, but for me it was a real milestone since for ages now I haven't been able to play trains on my Norfolk layout for any more than an hour at the very most before I have to stop and sleep.

I took a lot of snaps, but there's something strange going on with either TRS19, or my video card, - or my screen capture software, - because most of the snaps looked really strange with the lighting being harsh and too bright.  The definition was really blurry as well.  In the simulator when I was playing trains it certainly didn't look like that so it's a bit of a puzzle.

 

This was the only really useable snap.  Terrier 'Windweather' taking a short coal train away from Tenpenny Wharf.

 

 

And this is a snap I took from the Windweather station yard looking across to the harbour.  I have done some corrections to this image, but the lighting is still too harsh.  My video card is a Nvidia GTX 660 which is getting on a bit now so I'm wondering if it lies at the heart of the problem.  I have got a huge monster of a HP eight core Xeon computer with a Nvidia GTX (brand new & amazing) video card in it that I've been testing with a beta copy of Windows 11 so perhaps I should consider retiring my now almost vintage Cooler Master computer and getting the Xeon set up as my Trainz computer instead.

 

 

After the discussion about cocoa we had earlier I'm wondering if I should have a Police guard in Moxbury goods yard keeping an eye on the cocoa tanker to discourage hedonistic cocoa cultists who might attempt to steal it.

[Regularity]

5 hours ago, DonB said:

I expected to see someone with a layout featuring a Spaghetti orchard

Possibly to be found in the “overseas and continental” forum, under Italy?

[DonB]

1 hour ago, Regularity said:

Possibly to be found in the “overseas and continental” forum, under Italy?

 

No worth the effort, I get the impression that our Continental cousins view our April Fool humour with the utmost disdain.

[Caley Jim]

51 minutes ago, DonB said:

 

No worth the effort, I get the impression that our Continental cousins view our April Fool humour with the utmost disdain.

No market for tartan paint there, then!  

 

Jim

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, DonB said:

 

No worth the effort, I get the impression that our Continental cousins view our April Fool humour with the utmost disdain.

Poussin d’Avril?

[Compound2632]

Nicholas Fish, eh?

 

[MikeOxon]

Poussin, poisson, .. it's all French to me

[Annie]

I think my screen capture software must have a mind of its own, or else it's affected by the weather or the phases of the moon or something because it seems to be working somewhat better today.

 

When TS2019 SP1 was 'upgraded' to becoming TRS19 SP3 various things such as portals stopped working properly.  When I built up my Norfolk layout in the older TS2012 simulator I had a good deal of the regular timetable scheduling controlled by portals and it all worked really well.  In fact a couple of times I fell asleep and woke up hours later and it was still all running just fine. 

 

In TRS19 though this definitely did not happen and it was all so buggy and unreliable that I decided that I'd do away with portals and replace them with semi-hidden storage loops and sidings.  I'd used this system on my Lickey Bank layout as somewhat of an experiment and it had been a success, so I've been working on getting rid of the portals on my Norfolk layout and this morning I deleted the scheduling and train consists from the last ones attached to the main lines on the layout.  Next I'll be adding in one or two additional storage loops which are mainly used to hold the various set piece passenger trains, and a good few more sidings for holding goods and mineral rolling stock.

 

Strange as it might seem there's two minor twiglet type branch lines that are still attached to portals and they have given no trouble whatsoever.  I can only conclude it's because the trains are all quite short and it's a fairly long wait between trains; - though on the other hand the portal asset they are both using is a special short one which is different to the ones I'd been using on the mainlines.  So long as they continue to keep working I'll leave them be.

N3V has said that their next 'upgrade' patch will fix the problems with the portals, but I don't particularly care if it will or not since I'm not going to be using them anymore.  My digital model railway hidden loops and sidings are a lot more flexible and easy to use than any portal ever could be.  They work in exactly the same way that the hidden loops and sidings on a physical tangible real world model railway work and I like that.

 

Eastlingwold & Great Mulling's No.5 making a brisk run to Great Mulling.  I decided to see how the single driver Beyer-Peacocks would work out with running the local passenger service and I thought that in particular it would be a good job of work for the two engines that are still in original condition to be doing.  The schedule still needs a small amount of polishing, but so far it's all looking good.

The coaches are TS2004 Barry Railway 4 wheeler coach models reskinned to look something like GER 4 wheelers.  I was previously using some N.E.R. coach models, but TRS19 messed up their textures so I had to get creative.

 

 

 

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Poussin, poisson, .. it's all French to me

Chacon a son gout.

Which takes us back to port and Stilton, allegedly.

[Edwardian]

43 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Chacon a son gout.

 

 

Ah, no, trigger words!!!!

 

 

[Edwardian]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Nicholas Fish, eh?

 

 

Not to be confused with Claude Lorraine

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

When TS2019 SP1 was 'upgraded' to becoming TRS19 SP3 various things such as portals stopped working properly.  When I built up my Norfolk layout in the older TS2012 simulator I had a good deal of the regular timetable scheduling controlled by portals and it all worked really well.  In fact a couple of times I fell asleep and woke up hours later and it was still all running just fine. 

 

In TRS19 though this definitely did not happen and it was all so buggy and unreliable that I decided that I'd do away with portals and replace them with semi-hidden storage loops and sidings. 

 

Ah, yes, I remember it well....

 

 

1 hour ago, Annie said:

 

Strange as it might seem there's two minor twiglet type branch lines that are still attached to portals and they have given no trouble whatsoever.  I can only conclude it's because the trains are all quite short and it's a fairly long wait between trains; - though on the other hand the portal asset they are both using is a special short one which is different to the ones I'd been using on the mainlines.  So long as they continue to keep working I'll leave them be.

 

Probably some entirely mundane explanation

 

 

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Eastlingwold & Great Mulling's No.5 making a brisk run to Great Mulling.  I decided to see how the single driver Beyer-Peacocks would work out with running the local passenger service and I thought that in particular it would be a good job of work for the two engines that are still in original condition to be doing.  The schedule still needs a small amount of polishing, but so far it's all looking good.

The coaches are TS2004 Barry Railway 4 wheeler coach models reskinned to look something like GER 4 wheelers.  I was previously using some N.E.R. coach models, but TRS19 messed up their textures so I had to get creative.

 

 

 

 

I do so love your Beyer Singles.  I never tire of seeing them in their various guises.

 

Those do  make awfully good GE coaches

 

 

[Annie]

13 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Probably some entirely mundane explanation

I'm afraid portals are all a bit too mysterious for me with hundreds of lines of strange magical incantations and peculiar squiggles controlling how they function.  I haven't a clue as to why the short ones work and the full length ones don't because they are supposed to be using the same set of magical incantations.

At least with storage loops I can see what's there and what isn't at a glance and if something goes wrong I can fix it.

 

20 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I do so love your Beyer Singles.  I never tire of seeing them in their various guises.

They are very much my favourite too James.  It was a lot of fun taking No.5 for a run up and down the E&GR mainline while I was testing out the local passenger schedule.  The rebuilt Beyer Singles will be making a return fairly soon and after testing 'Sebastopol' out with running one of the mail trains I'm going to have a look along the E&GR mainline to see if I can find a good site for the trackside mail bag apparatus.

 

28 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Those do  make awfully good GE coaches

They turned out much better than I thought they would.  The Barry coaches have vacuum brakes which isn't too much of a problem since the Affiliated (Imaginary) Railway Companies are vacuum brake lines and I'm sure that if the GER had presented them with a few dozen elderly 4 wheel coaches they would have had them sorted out soon enough.  I could make them piped for Westinghouse brakes as well if I ever I'm looking for a small job to do.

The coaches are also fitted with electric generators which I don't know was because their maker made a mistake or because the Barry Railway was more technologically advanced than their neighbours.  It doesn't really matter though since the Windweather Tramway has been involved in electrical experimentation ever since I took it out of my imagination and laid it out on the layout boards.  There's been a small coal fired electrical generating  station complete with workshops beside the harbour and an engineer in residence from an early stage of the proceedings so it's quite plausible for the coaches to have been converted to electric lighting without having to take any liberties with the company history.  If their finances had been better and if the GER hadn't purchased a majority shareholding who knows we might have even seen electric traction on the tramways.

[Edwardian]

6 hours ago, Annie said:

I'm afraid portals are all a bit too mysterious for me with hundreds of lines of strange magical incantations and peculiar squiggles controlling how they function.  I haven't a clue as to why the short ones work and the full length ones don't because they are supposed to be using the same set of magical incantations.

At least with storage loops I can see what's there and what isn't at a glance and if something goes wrong I can fix it.

 

Magic

 

6 hours ago, Annie said:

They are very much my favourite too James.  It was a lot of fun taking No.5 for a run up and down the E&GR mainline while I was testing out the local passenger schedule.  The rebuilt Beyer Singles will be making a return fairly soon and after testing 'Sebastopol' out with running one of the mail trains I'm going to have a look along the E&GR mainline to see if I can find a good site for the trackside mail bag apparatus.

 

Ooooh, TPO!

 

6 hours ago, Annie said:

They turned out much better than I thought they would.  The Barry coaches have vacuum brakes which isn't too much of a problem since the Affiliated (Imaginary) Railway Companies are vacuum brake lines and I'm sure that if the GER had presented them with a few dozen elderly 4 wheel coaches they would have had them sorted out soon enough.  I could make them piped for Westinghouse brakes as well if I ever I'm looking for a small job to do.

The coaches are also fitted with electric generators which I don't know was because their maker made a mistake or because the Barry Railway was more technologically advanced than their neighbours.  It doesn't really matter though since the Windweather Tramway has been involved in electrical experimentation ever since I took it out of my imagination and laid it out on the layout boards.  There's been a small coal fired electrical generating  station complete with workshops beside the harbour and an engineer in residence from an early stage of the proceedings so it's quite plausible for the coaches to have been converted to electric lighting without having to take any liberties with the company history.  If their finances had been better and if the GER hadn't purchased a majority shareholding who knows we might have even seen electric traction on the tramways.

 

I read somewhere that the Barry went straight to electricity, skipping gas. If true, that would explain the battery boxes.  I don't have the Mountford volume, however.

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

I read somewhere that the Barry went straight to electricity, skipping gas. If true, that would explain the battery boxes.  I don't have the Mountford volume, however.

That makes sense.  A digital modeller isn't going to represent a generator complete with its drive belt under a coach unless they've got a fairly sound reason for doing so.

 

After doing a Google search I discovered that the Barry Railway Carriage Trust have 1st/2nd composite No.163 under restoration at the Severn Valley Railway, but since it is a rescued grounded coach body it's on a repurposed PLV underframe and not its original underframe, - so no underframe details unfortunately.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/BarryRailwayCarriageTrust/?ref=page_internal

http://www.barryrailwaycarriagetrust.org.uk/index.html

 

Nos. 45, 71 and 97 have survived as well with No.45 also in the care of the trust, but it's still awaiting its own turn to be restored.

 

 

 

It seems that the Barry Railway used the Stone's Patented System.  These notes are from the Warwickshire Railway's website and relate to the Pickering railmotors, that were later converted to composite trailer coaches and eventually ended up as departmental vehicles on British Railways.

 

The Stone’s system was the earliest self-contained carriage lighting system. It was designed to utilise an ordinary shunt wound dynamo suspended under the coach by a hinge that caused the weight of the dynamo to maintain the tension in the drive belt. A tension screw on the hinge could be manually adjusted to set the minimum drive belt tension, but the basic principle was that when the coach was travelling above a predetermined speed, the drive belt would start to slip and as the speed increased further the slippage increased, thereby restricting the speed of the dynamo, which in turn limited the maximum voltage produced and prevented the batteries from overcharging. Two batteries were employed, with one being charged from the dynamo, while the other was used to regulate the voltage to the level required by the lamps.

[Regularity]

13 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Not to be confused with Claude Lorraine

According to the leading ladies of the time, his quiche was particularly good.

[Edwardian]

15 minutes ago, Regularity said:

According to the leading ladies of the time, his quiche was particularly good.

 

Though you had to watch his Alsatian.